A Square Enix game designer from Osaka has updated their public LinkedIn page with the projects that they worked on at Square Enix from August 2014 to June 2015, and curiously "Kingdom Hearts 2.9"is listed here as a title for both PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4. If true, the listing also confirms some Kingdom Hearts III info such as Pixar involvement, a possible Gummi Ship system, and possible multiplayer! For the 10 months that they reported working at Square Enix, they supposedly worked on both Kingdom Hearts 2.9 and Kingdom Hearts III, making the following contributions:

This listing can be seen by searching for "kingdom hearts 2.9" on LinkedIn while logged in. While there is a small possibility that this page is fabricated, we have considered that their profile is linked to other profiles that we have verified as legitimate, and that their page contains a whole range of information about the game designer's career that is legitimate, and so we believe this to be true.

If true, it is unknown exactly what Kingdom Hearts 2.9 could be. Is listing Kingdom Hearts III's Attraction Flow underneath Kingdom Hearts 2.9 a mistake, or could this new game be used to show off some of the Kingdom Hearts III gameplay features? Initial speculation was that Kingdom Hearts 2.9 could be a re-release of Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 ReMIX and Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 ReMIX, but comments by Nomura in an E3 2015 interview seem to indicate that there are no plans for this. Was the game cancelled, or will it be announced in the future? Only time will tell.

During the Kingdom Hearts Orchestra - World Tour - in Japan, the Japanese voice actress of Kairi and Xion, Risa Uchida, came onstage and performed lines. The Japanese voice actress for Aqua, Megumi Toyoguchi, later came onstage and performed some lines as well. These lines are canon to the story of Kingdom Hearts and explain some back story for Kingdom Hearts III.

You can view the translated Kairi lines thanks to @momo_krys on Twitter below:

Kairi:

I didn't notify you but you might've already heard from Yen Sid-sama.I've come to train to become a Keyblade wielder.Until now, I've only been waiting for you guys to come back from your journey.Maybe with this I can at least help out a little.

The magician Merlin-sama can use magic that surpasses time.Here, we can forget about the flow of time.Isn't it great?

Lea's training with me.He apologized to me over and over again.It's alright,I'd say,But he'd keep on apologizing...

At first I was a bit scared butAs we trained together we started talking to each other.I found out Lea also has a best friend he wants to save.I felt like, he's not a person that I can bring myself to hate...

Your journey is a journey that will help many peopleand the people you'll meet from now onI have a feeling these people you meet will also need your help

The journey might be hard butPlease stay as the cheerful and bright Sora I knowBecause your smile, will save many hearts.....

*end*

You can view the translated Xion lines thanks to @momo_krys on Twitter below:

Xion:

On the day you first called my nameIt made me feel like I had a heartIf I hadn't met the two of youI wonder how my "everyday" would've been.

Day by day, repeating the days which were the same as every other,Even so,The red, setting sun,The taste of ice cream.Those days when nothing happened were the most precious to me

All of it is my treasure.

Thank you for calling out my name.Thank you for inviting me to the clocktower.Thank you for picking up shells for me.Thank you for coming to bring me back.Thank you for letting me be your friend.

I wish... those same old days could have continued on longer....

We wanted to go to the sea....

*end*

@momo_krys hasn't translated Aqua's lines, but he says they were pretty much something like "Ven, Terra, become the light that will guide me through the darkness!" He says that it was essentially just her saying that she wanted Ventus and Terra to guide her in her darkness and to become the light that shines her path.

If you didn't know, last year during the Kingdom Hearts Concert - First Breath - in Japan, a similar situation to this happened. The Japanese voice actor of Terra and the Japanese voice actress of Naminé came onstage and performed some canon lines for Terra and Naminé. You can view those lines here.

UPDATE 2: For all the other orchestras around the world, they played recordings of these voices with English subtitles. The recording of Kairi's voice played while Dearly Beloved played, the recording of Xion's voice played while Vector to the Heavens played, and the recording of Aqua's voice played while Wave of Darkness played.

To kick off D23 Expo Japan 2015, Disney and Square Enix are hosting a special event called the Kingdom Hearts Premium Theater. This is a private event in Japan, in which we expect some huge news for Kingdom Hearts III! Because we do not expect a livestream of the event, official or otherwise, we will be using this article to provide live updates in addition to articles covering any big announcements that come up. The doors will open at 10:00pm EST (7:00pm PT) and the event begins at 11:00pm EST (8:00pm PT). Make sure to stay tuned here, on KH13.com, and our social media pages for all Kingdom Hearts news from the Kingdom Hearts Premium Theater!

Our coverage of Kingdom Hearts III & Disney Infinity 3.0 at D23 Expo 2015 in Anaheim, California has begun! Starting on August 14 and continuing through August 16, the D23 Expo is the ultimate Disney fan event where major Disney-owned companies and trademarks come together to create an ultimate experience for Disney fans. With Kingdom Hearts III confirmed to appear at D23 Expo 2015, we will be keeping you updated with all live coverage from the event. Kingdom Hearts III & Disney Infinity 3.0 will be appearing at 11 a.m. (USA PDT) during the Disney Interactive showcase at D23 Expo.

Tonight at the Kingdom Hearts Orchestra - World Tour - in LA, the Kingdom Hearts series' director Tetsuya Nomura has made another appearance. As translated by the official concert interpreter, Nomura tells fans that he will return in a month for D23 Expo 2017 on July 15, 2017, with "final information" on Kingdom Hearts III. We do not yet know the content of this final information, but we do know that at D23 Expo 2017 we will see a new world reveal as well as a new trailer, as was announced in the most recentKingdom Hearts III trailer from yesterday's LA concert.

UPDATE 1: At yesterdays Kingdom Hearts Orchestra - World Tour - in LA, Kingdom Hearts director Tetsuya Nomura made his third appearance. According to @SkywardWing on Twitter, who was at the concert, Nomura tells fans that, as translated by the official concert interpreter, "If this month's announcements made you happy, next month's will make you even happier." He is referring to the upcoming news and trailer at next month's D23 Expo 2017 on July 15th.

UPDATE 2: During the final Kingdom Hearts Orchestra - World Tour - in Osaka, Japan, Kingdom Hearts series director Tetsuya Nomura stated that they raised expectations high for the new Kingdom Hearts III information and news being revealed at D23 2017. He makes sure to note that it will be "normal" Kingdom Hearts III news, and he would like people to spread this word.

At the Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 ReMIX North American launch event at the Walt Disney Studio Lot in Burbank, California, Square Enix has shown new Kingdom Hearts III footage and revealed that they will release new information in 2015. The new footage showed concept art, new Heartless designs, a huge town titled Cable Town with Sora in a library/study room and new gun Keyblade attacks for Sora. Sora was shown in various Kingdom Hearts II outfits including Valor and Wisdom form. To expand on the gun Keyblade attacks, Sora's Keyblade transforms into dual guns and then transforms into a cannon. Chi was also written on a blackboard in the study room, this may be related to Kingdom Hearts χ[chi] but this is simply speculation. Thanks go to @churroz for the information.

Update: Siliconera has posted their impressions of the footage. They reveal that Yoko Shimomura, composer of the Kingdom Hearts series was also at the event and performed a couple of the series' most famous songs. They have also included what Heartless they believe were shown. You can read them below.

Spoiler

Square Enix held a Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 Remix fan event in Los Angeles earlier today. The event began with Livan playing Kingdom Hearts songs like "Kairi" and "Hand in Hand" on a piano. Surprise guest, Kingdom Hearts composer Yoko Shimomura joined him for duets of "The Other Promise" and "Dearly Beloved."

All the way at the end was a little teaser for Kingdom Hearts III. Tetsuya Nomura, Kingdom Hearts series director, said it was too early to show worlds, but wanted to show fans something new. We were not allowed to record any footage from the teaser, which opened with concept art for Heartless in the upcoming game. One enemy looked like a souped up Blue Rhapsody Heartless with flames around it. Another enemy looked like the Soldier Heartless type with angel wings. A new enemy, a large Heartless with a bull-horned helmet, looked like a knight. There was also a tiny Archer heartless holding a bow with a quiver on his back. Some of these were sketches, but others like the Knight Heartless were 3D models.

A clip of Sora wearing his Kingdom Hearts II costume was shown next. He had the Oathkeeper keyblade in his hand which could transform into a gigantic gun. When fired, Sora would rock back a little bit and a star-like projectile fired from the bazooka-like weapon.

The next scene showed a town with white houses stacked on top of each other and huge windmills. This town seemed grand and tranquil, not unlike Twilight Town, but instead of a sunset palette the buildings were primarily white. A plaque underneath said "Cable Town" and the camera zoomed into one of the buildings. Doors opened and the camera panned horizontally by chess pieces (one of the pieces had Mickey’s head on top) and a chess board. The scene switched to Sora entering the room and walking towards the chess pieces which were placed by a window. Sora picked up one of the pieces and the trailer ended with a message promising more Kingdom Hearts III news in 2015.

Update 2: Square Enix has told those who attended the event that the footage was only intended for those who attended the North American and European launch events and that more information will be revealed in 2015. This is likely due to the footage still being quite raw. Thanks go to @churroz for the tip.

A Kingdom Hearts III feature will be included in the upcoming Weekly Famitsu issue, and Esoteru has posted a summary of its highlights online. News Team member Dengojin has translated them as below:

The KH3 development team have been planning for a Toy Story world since Kingdom Hearts II, but had to go through a number of negotiations for it to finally appear on KH3.

The story in the Toy Story world will take place after Toy Story 2, and will follow its canon timeline rather than taking place in a parallel storyline.

At the beginning, Sora is mistaken for another character from a new game being sold.

Riding a robot to fight was an early idea sent at the beginning of the development to the KH3 development team.

Development on the Big Hero 6 world is going well, and the next information on it is on its way.

The number of Disney worlds in KH3 are less than in KH2*, but they will be vast and have more content in them.

The number of cutscenes in Final Fantasy VII Remake is greater than in KH3, and they are taking a long time to develop.

Kingdom Hearts series director Tetsuya Nomura is designing the organization members for Xenoblade Chronicles 2. It was a request that came from his old mentors who used to take a good care of him when he was a newcomer, and he couldn't refuse that request.

There are no unannounced titles that Nomura is directing, but he is involved in many.

*There were 12 Disney worlds (excluding original Kingdom Hearts worlds) in Kingdom Hearts II, implying that the number of Disney worlds in Kingdom Hearts III may be less than 12.

Toy Story is the latest world revealed for Kingdom Hearts III through the trailer unveiled last week at the D23 Expo in Anaheim. The Weekly Famitsu feature, which will recap the event and include an interview with Tetsuya Nomura, will be published on July 20 in Japan. Stay tuned with us for updates and translations!

UPDATE 1: Since the summary of the highlights was posted online by Esoteru, more leaks have released from Hachima. Some parts of this have already been covered in the aforementioned highlights summary, but now, we have the information in more detail and new information as well. You can check it out here.

UPDATE 2: The Weekly Famitsu issue has been released! Check out full scans of it, as well as full translations, here.

In an interview with GameSpot, Kingdom Hearts series director Tetsuya Nomura explains why Kingdom Hearts III is taking as long as it has to develop and create. Check out the full quote below:

"A lot of people have been mentioning and making it sound like ‘Oh, Nomura’s taking too much time,’ and it hurts.

There was a decision made to change to an external [engine]...Unreal Engine 4. So we switched over to that. Unfortunately there was a bit of time that needed to be rewinded and started over. So there was a bit of a setback there, but it was a decision that the company had to make, so it was inevitable.

We had a plan of the period that it’s going to take for us to create the content at the start of the project, and we laid out, after such and such years, we would need to add more personnel resources. We had submitted it to our headquarters and had it approved, but internal personnel is very limited, and there are various different projects that happen within our company, so unfortunately timing did not work out. So we had to make due with the timing that was appropriate for the company...the company makes the decisions, so unfortunately sometimes it is out of my control.

I wanted to emphasize that it wasn’t a problem on our development teams. It just happened that way, and there were some decisions that the company had to make, and it just didn’t work out for certain timings that we were hoping to hit.

It’s kind of out of my hands.I mean, yes, time has passed. But it’s out of my hands."

They also talked with Nomura about the various Disney-themed worlds in Kingdom Hearts III. Check out what he had to say on the subject in the full quote below:

"I don’t think we’ll be keeping any worlds secret until the game is released. I think we will be introducing them leading up to launch. Nowadays games can add content on after the fact through DLC content, so there’s no need to hide any worlds."

He was then asked if they were already planning downloadable content for the game. View his response below:

"Nothing is set in stone, and I’m afraid we can’t go into details, but I have told the team: Just be prepared to be able to accommodate for something like that. We can’t suddenly develop a system where we’re accommodating for downloadable content. So it’s not confirming or denying either way, but just so that the development team will be prepared, I have informed them of making the preparations."

And further speaking about the worlds, Nomura stated:

"I feel like I’ve packed in much more fun than I had in my previous Kingdom Hearts titles.

Kingdom Hearts 3 is going to be our first full HD game in our current console generation. It does involve a lot of bandwidth and resources in order to create in full HD, so our directive was to have as many elements [as possible] of gameplay included in one single world, rather than having multiple different little worlds with few elements. We wanted to pack in as many gameplay elements and fun into a single world.

If we are able to accomplish everything that we did plan out for, I’m pretty confident that people will enjoy and be fully satisfied with the end product."

What do you think about this interview with Nomura? We'd love to hear your thoughts, so feel free to share them in the comments below!

Utada Hikaru's manager and father, Utada Teruzane, has announced through his Twitter account, @u3music, that work on the Kingdom Hearts III intro song has begun! In 2013, Teruzane stated that Utada's involvement was undecided at the time. On December 22nd 2016, a curious fan followed up on this message, receiving a reply from Teruzane later that day.

Utada made her return to the Kingdom Hearts series earlier this year, collaborating with PUNPEE to create "Hikari/Simple and Clean -Ray of Hope MIX-", included in the opening for Kingdom Hearts 0.2 Birth by Sleep -A Fragmentary Passage-.

UPDATE: Utada Teruzane has retracted the confirmation for Kingdom Hearts III, saying that they would like to be involved but aren't sure quite yet. You can find a screenshot of the tweet below. The original tweet confirming their involvement is still available on the U3 Twitter account.

Are you excited to have a new Kingdom Hearts intro song? Let us know in the comments!

Attendees of the Kingdom Hearts Premium Theater event at D23 Expo Japan were given the chance to watch new Kingdom Hearts III footage. Though the trailer won't be released to the public for a while, we have some details given by attendees on Twitter.

What we know so far:

The world based on Tangled makes a reappearance, with a new flower Heartless

A new Nobody is shown, confirming their return as an enemy in Kingdom Hearts III.

The conversation between young Eraqus and young Xehanort is expanded upon from what we've seen previously at E3 2015 and Tokyo Game Show 2015 (Later revealed that this conversation is in the event-exclusive trailer).

Sora locks on to 10 Heartless at once within 1.5 seconds and begins to attack at lightning speeds for a temporary period of time!

The speedy action of the KH3 trailer surprised some.

New abilities of Sora, Donald, and Goofy were revealed. Footage of 3 people riding on Goofy's shield and attacking.

Character movements in battle scene are detailed. Especially Sora's legs in the river.

There was a river Sora fell into while fighting heartless.

Towards the end of the trailer, there is a scene with Sora, Riku, Kairi, Ven, Aqua, Terra, Namine, Roxas and Lea. This is the scene that made many fans emotional.

Thanks to KH13 user ZeroKitteh for compiling a list of notable moments from the trailer. A sketch of this new nobody can be found below thanks to Twitter user @aibo_ac7. This nobody seems to have possible ties to Marluxia:

More impressions will added as we receive and translate them. Thank you for your patience.

Tetsuya Nomura, the director of the Kingdom Hearts series has revealed in the latest issue of Dengeki PlayStation magazine that they have decided upon a release date for Kingdom Hearts III but they cannot announce it yet. Since Dengeki PlayStation is a Japanese magazine, this is likely in reference to the Japanese release date of the game.

On May 8, 2017, Twitter user José Álamo (@Jose_Strife), a reporter for the website Koi-nya, claimed to have apparent leaked information coming straight from the development team of Kingdom Hearts III (the Osaka Team). The information he provided, in a series of tweets, has been translated as follows.

Please keep in mind that these are unconfirmed and lack solid evidence, and have therefore been classified as rumors until proven otherwise.

“Seems like Nomura is still ‘in his teens’ with not advancing with Kingdom Hearts III’s development due to his ‘perfectionism’. If everything goes according to plan, there will be a trailer at E3 and the game will be released in 2018, even if it’s unfinished. Seems like it has been exhausting for the Osaka Team to have worked on a home console Kingdom Hearts game. On a flip note, Nomura seems to be more interested in what comes after Kingdom Hearts III than in Kingdom Hearts III itself. The Kingdom Hearts III development team was obsessed with releasing a trailer last April and launching it [the game] around 2017 Fall/holidays with removed content. And, to the surprise of no one, all of this is due to the development hell of Versus*. All of these details came [to me] with a delay of 1-2 weeks, keep this in mind as things can change quickly in-house at Square Enix. The E3 presentation is almost confirmed and Nomura should be at the event in some way or another.”

“As many of you may know, Kingdom Hearts II, Birth by Sleep, and Dream Drop Distance ended up having removed content, so it is nothing new for Kingdom Hearts. All that was planned won’t be in Kingdom Hearts III, simple.”

Today, he tweeted some clarifications in English due to some people being confused by his statements because of mistranslations.

“Square Enix is not rushing KH3, that reports [sic] are incorrect. I said that they may cut things, but I didn’t say they are in a rush. People change my words. If they can’t finish something when they hit the deadline, it’ll be cut. There is no rush when you delay a game twice. Reports about KH3 being in development hell like Versus* are also inaccurate. I said that the development of Versus was a hell. And as Nomura has said so many times, this affected him and SE**. If Nomura was a [sic] Osaka Team resident and he set his goals accurately, the game would be out in December like planned. Nomura, as you should know, is working with a lot of teams in SE** in a lot of games/projects.”

KH13.com has contacted José Álamo for further clarifications.

José Álamo’s rumors on Kingdom Hearts III go way back to January 30, 2017, where he stated the following:

“Development on Kingdom Hearts III seems to not be going as well as expected and development team is using assets with subject to change. It should be playable by August and they still don’t have various sections ready. WELP. It is possible that launch (in March of next year) won’t be affected, but they will have to work a lot for it. Kingdom Hearts III’s problem resides in all of the content they have to include: levels, animations, models… And they are very slow in doing it… Every time they make a build, they review it and Nomura says: “No, we should work more on this” and back to work, when there are assets from PlayStation 2 still to be worked on, untouched levels and things of the sort.”

He added: “Obviously, this perfectionism from Nomura assures certain quality standards and the finished parts from the game look really good. In that sense we shouldn’t be worried. Slow, but safe.”

On March 16, 2017, Álamo also talked about a cancelled presentation for Kingdom Hearts III, (which has also been classified as a rumor):

“Seems like Square Enix has cancelled/delayed a presentation for Kingdom Hearts III for the press… The closeness to E3 and other factors could be the reason for this decision. They are looking for a more efficient marketing campaign. Nomura had prepared two trailers: one for the end of last year and one for the beginning of this year. At E3/after E3 we should start getting details and, when Square Enix announces the release date, the big marketing campaign will begin.”

José Álamo is known for having leaked a few things in the past, such as the reveal for The Last of Us Part II a week before its official announcement at PlayStation Experience 2016, and a new Fire Emblem game releasing for Nintendo Switch before the end of 2018.He also has some other unconfirmed rumors, such as a Pokémon announcement being delayed, a new Assassin’s Creed game announcement coming up on the week of May 15, 2017, a new Animal Crossing and a new Metroid (Prime-style) games coming to the Switch before the end of 2018, and Square Enix internally discussingThe World Ends With You IP.

It is also worth noting that in June 2016, there were some leaks in 4chan about the plot and overall game of Final Fantasy XV. Álamo stated that an inside source of his had confirmed that all those leaks were fake, but when the game released, all of those leaks turned out to be true.

With all this in mind, we advise our readers to take what they just read with a grain of salt, as they are all rumors at this point in time that could eventually be proven wrong.

*Final Fantasy Versus XIII, which was officially renamed in 2013 as Final Fantasy XV.**Square Enix

[WARNING: These screenshots have NOT been confirmed to be legitimate, so please take this only as a RUMOR].

Screenshots have recently surfaced on ResetEra, detailing a possible Monsters, Inc. world for Kingdom Hearts III. ResetEra user Wrestleman uploaded two screenshots that were shown to him on his Discord server by someone who got them from an unknown source who said they were taken from an FTP server. The screenshots show Sora, Donald, and Goofy in the lobby at the Scare Factory fighting what seems to be Unversed. Also present are Mike Wazowski and Sully, who appear to be party members for this world.

The first screenshot features Sora and the others facing off against what appears to be a monster Unversed (notice the symbol on its head), along with a few Flood Unversed. Sora, Donald, and Goofy have a more monster appearance. Sora’s legs have a striped look with a tail and he has horns coming from his ears. Donald appears to be a blue gremlin with little wings. Goofy is green from head to toe with his eyes poking out. Sora, Donald, and Goofy appear to be using their default weapons for this fight.

The HUD appears to be the default with Sora, Donald, and Goofy still in the regular Kingdom Hearts III outfits with no changes on their icons, however on Donald and Goofy’s icon, there is kanji written, meaning “Temporary," so the HUD may not be finished yet. The HUD also shows Mike and Sully’s icons in both their fight mode and in stationary mode.

The second screenshot has Sora and the others standing around, most likely after the fight. This shot appears to be from a developer’s point of view, displaying information about the status of the game. You can view the translations below:

(Red text on top)Since the factors of the load are not limited to this, they are only for reference.Profiling while AI [Artificial Intelligence] is logged inProfiling while GC [Garbage Collection] validation is on

(Next to character icon) "temporary"

(Green text [left side])Number of polygons in the screen: related to the number of points and dynamic shadowsDraw Call: Related to the number of actors and materials

(Green text [right side])Related to the number of Draw CallRelated to points, shader complexity, and shadows among others (25 ms to 27 ms is preferable only for the background)

Wrestleman also uploaded a screenshot of an alleged leak of a Frozen world in Kingdom Hearts III, but it was quickly deleted by Wrestleman as others brought it to his attention that it was just a screenshot from the movie.

UPDATE [Dec. 23, 2017]: New screenshots of the alleged Kingdom Hearts III Monsters, Inc. world leak have surfaced on Imgur. The new batch of screenshots includes an introduction of Boo and the door vault. There are also a few shots of debugging and comparisons with the Kingdom Shader. You can view them in the gallery below:

Translations are available for a few of the screenshots, thanks to Mio-chan. You can see them below:

Welcome to KH13.com’s coverage of D23 Expo Japan 2018, which returns to Tokyo Disney Resort on February 10-12, 2018, for a third time to celebrate all things Disney!

This time, a Kingdom Hearts Fan Event is taking place as part of its Disney Magical Theatre program on Saturday, February 10, at 4:00 PM to 5:20 PM JST. This is:· Friday, February 9 at 11:00 PM - 12:20 AM PST;· Saturday, February 10 at 1:00 AM - 2:20 AM CST, 2:00 AM - 3:20 AM EST, and 7:00 AM – 8:20 AM GMT.

There is no indication that this event will be livestreamed; rather, it was said that the program will be giving “an amazing experience exclusive to this event”. It is currently unknown what the Kingdom Hearts Fan Event will be about, what will be shown, and if Kingdom Hearts III will be shown or not.

During this coverage, we will be collecting all the information available from the attendees of the D23 Expo Japan 2018 and the Kingdom Hearts Fan Event, and keep you up to date with all available news. So stay tuned!

During an interview with Dengeki PlayStation, Tetsuya Nomura, director of the Kingdom Hearts series has revealed that the cover artwork for Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 ReMIX, 2.5 ReMIX, & HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue all connect together as a hidden message for Kingdom Hearts III.

Tetsuya Nomura says that the 3 pieces of artwork start with Sora sitting, then standing, and finally walking. There is also a flow of time with the 3 pieces of artwork, where 1.5 is sunset becoming night, 2.5 is in the middle of the night, & 2.8 is night breaking into dawn. All of this connects to a hidden message for Kingdom Hearts III.

You can read Nomura's answer below, thanks to Catherine Mueller (nichiei.translations@gmail.com) for the translations.

--You also revealed a gorgeous package art.

Nomura: There are actually two secrets about the illustrations from [KH1.5] until [KH2.8]. Extremely attentive KH fans might have already discovered them, but one is that Sora's movements change from sitting, to standing, to walking. One more is that when you line up the three illustrations, you'll notice that they show the flow of time with changes in the sky. [KH1.5] is sunset becoming night, [KH2.5] is the middle of the night, and [KH2.8] is night breaking into dawn. Those three illustrations have a message regarding the final chapter, [KHIII].

--So you planned all this from the time of [KH1.5]'s release, then?

Nomura: We worried a long time about the package art for [KH2.5], and we worked on trying to connect the three productions in a continual manner. It seems like there were a lot of people who figured out Sora's movements, but there were not very many people who noticed the connection between the skies. There are two meanings to “sora” (I.E. one being the protagonist's name, and the other meaning “sky”).

While it is uncertain what this message is, this is something for fans to think about as we wait for the release of Kingdom Hearts III.

What do you think this hidden message could be? Let us know in the comments below!

With the surprise appearance of series director Tetsuya Nomura on stage, the Kingdom Hearts Orchestra - World Tour - showcased a new Kingdom Hearts III trailer today at its North American premiere in Los Angeles, California. The trailer showcased exciting new gameplay from the upcoming game and some cutscenes. The trailer was soon uploaded on the internet by the official Square Enix YouTube channel in Japanese. You can view the trailer with English subtitles below:

The trailer ended with a message that a new world and a new trailer will be available at the D23 Expo on July 15, 2017.

Square Enix Press Center describes the trailer as follows:

Earlier at the KINGDOM HEARTS Orchestra –World Tour– concert in Los Angeles, SQUARE ENIX® and Disney Interactive dazzled fans with a new KINGDOM HEARTS III gameplay trailer featuring never before seen footage based on Disney’s animated hit, “Hercules,” which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year.

In this action-packed trailer, Sora, Donald Duck and Goofy help Hercules battle various forms of Heartless on Mount Olympus through gorgeous visuals and gameplay. Fans will see Sora in a new form, which allows him to perform special powerful solo and joint attacks on his enemies. A new glimpse into the game’s storyline reveals a reunion with Disney villains Hades, Maleficent and Pete as they discuss the location of a mysterious item while Sora is faced with a dilemma in an effort to bring back an old friend.

We will be updating this article with any new information.

Below is the trailer with no subtitles.

Check out over 100 screenshots from the trailer, going frame by frame! All in High Quality.

During a televised recap of the D23 Expo Japan 2015 event, which was held from November 6th through the 8th (or November 3rd for the Kingdom Hearts Premium Theater), snippets from the Kingdom Hearts Premium Theater event were shown. These snippets include footage from the Kingdom Hearts III trailer shown at D23 Expo Japan. Aside from extra Kingdom Hearts III footage, footage from the Kingdom Hearts Premium Theater in general was shown and can be seen below thanks to YouTube user I Love DCS JP who originally captured the footage.

During the Disney Interactive event at D23 Expo 2015, a world based on the movie Big Hero 6 was announced for Kingdom Hearts III! The story in Kingdom Hearts III will take place after the events of the movie. The subplot of the world will involve Heartless taking over the Baymax that was left inside the portal from the end of the film. The following image is concept art created by series artists, which showcases Sora riding on the back of Battlesuit Baymax.

Roy Conli, producer of Tangled and Big Hero 6 also shared a message saying how thrilled he is to be featuring his movies in Kingdom Hearts games, and that he loves the connections the movies and the Kingdom Hearts series share. You can check out his video below.

Some very interesting tweets have been made by Bill Farmer, Goofy's English voice actor, stating that he has finished voice recording for Kingdom Hearts III and that the game is coming in 2015. While we have no way of knowing if this is correct, Bill seems pretty confident in his word. He has made many comments about the game and his part in it. Is it really possible for Kingdom Hearts III to come out in 2015? It doesn't seem likely, and it seems that it is likely that Bill Farmer is just mistaken about what game he recorded for, but all we can do is hope.

You can view Bill Farmer's Twitter page here, or you can read some of Bill's most significant tweets below. These tweets have been removed so please remember to take these with a grain of salt.

Spoiler

Update: Square Enix has made it clear that there was a mistake on Bill Farmer's part and the release date for Kingdom Hearts III remains unannounced.

We've officially kicked off our E3 2015 coverage! Held from June 15 to June 17, 2015, E3 2015 is a gaming trade show where many companies will be showing off their announcements, including Square Enix with their very own conference. Our Twitch channel will be streaming coverage throughout the event, Churro (@churroz) will be representing us on the show floor, and our News Team will be updating you here with any and all Kingdom Hearts news that appears – so stay tuned!

In a previous article, we reported that Tetsuya Nomura, director of the Kingdom Hearts series, was interviewed by Ruliweb and claimed that there were no plans to release Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 ReMIX and Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 ReMIX on the PlayStation 4. However, as we and others further investigated this interview, one paragraph stuck out. Using Google Translate, rumors were spread about worlds like Pride Lands and Halloween Town not returning in Kingdom Hearts III. However, thanks to Jess from Tumblr and Amber from Tumblr, we have translated a section of the interview that will clear things up:

Nomura: Any map used in the first two [numbered] Kingdom Hearts games will not appear in Kingdom Hearts III.

To clarify, Nomura states that maps used in the previous games will not return. This does not rule out movies that we have seen before, as evidenced by the return of the Hercules world seen in the E3 2015 trailer for Kingdom Hearts III. We have never ventured in the areas around Mount Olympus, but we have been in the Coliseum, a "Town Near Thebes", and the Underworld from the Hercules movie. While it is likely that Halloween Town and other such worlds from movies featured in previous games will not return, simply because of the lack of new maps/areas, it does not rule them out completely.

With this new information, which new areas from worlds we have visited in the series would you like to see in Kingdom Hearts III? Let us know in the comments!

Beginning on July 14th and continuing through the 16th, D23 Expo is the ultimate Disney fan event where major Disney-owned companies and trademarks make various announcements related to Disney movies, games, etc. to create the ultimate experience for Disney fans.